The present invention relates to a heat engine construction. More particularly, the present invention relates to an engine construction including a heat exchanger which is movable between two extreme positions within an enclosed space, and which produces a variation in pressure which may be transmitted to a working piston. The present invention is an improvement of the thermal exchanger engine as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,402.
Various types of engines are known which are employed to operate as heat engines, with such engines being described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,956,894 to Tibbs; 3,878,680 to Dauvergne; 4,077,221 to Maeda; and 4,270,351 to Kuhns.
By the present invention, there is provided an internal thermal exchanger engine which, in one embodiment, includes an enclosed shell or chamber having hot and cold end portions and having contained therein a heat exchanger which occupies approximately one-half the total volume of the chamber, the heat exchanger being open ended and containing heat conductive materials such as fine copper wire strands which function in heat exchange relationship with a gas contained in the chamber. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the enclosed chamber is in the form of a semi-cylinder, with the heat exchanger of a wedge-shape construction and being freely rotatable between a hot side of the semi-cylinder and a cold side across the arc of the semi-cylinder.
In a further embodiment, the invention includes an internal heat exchanger capable of movement back and forth within a cylinder containing a separate piston.
In the present heat engine, the pressure differential is achieved in a most efficient way due to the action of the internal heat exchanger which removes energy from the gas as the exchanger moves from cold to hot end locations, storing such energy within the system in the exchanger material, creating low pressure in the chamber and then releasing energy to the gas to create high pressure in the chamber as the exchanger moves from the hot to the cold end locations within the chamber.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal engine which is capable of highly efficient operation.
It is a further object of the invention to utilize to the fullest extent the energy supplied during the operation of a heat engine.
It is another object of the invention to provide a thermal engine which operates within an enclosed space to produce a pressure differential which may be transmitted to a location outside the enclosed space.
It is another object of the invention to re-cycle heat energy within the heat engine system by the use of an internal heat exchanger.
It is another object of the invention to provide a system which removes energy from a gas contained within an enclosed chamber and which transfers this energy to a working piston.